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marv wolfman

“The White Carnival” part three! San Francisco goes on high alert when a strange, glowing orb begins to consume the city itself! Can Raven save her new friends and her new home from this mysterious and powerful force?

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“The White Carnival” part 1! In a tale set between TEEN TITANS #24 and TEEN TITANS: REBIRTH #1, Raven takes a break from the team and moves to San Francisco to stay with her estranged aunt and face her most perilous challenge yet: high school! As Raven discovers more about her human side, one of her classmates goes missing under mysterious circumstances, and she must face an evil like none she’s known before!

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The Teen Titans’ resident empath, demon spawn, and Goth girl Raven heads to San Francisco and her mom’s family in her new solo series from her creator, writer Marv Wolfman, and artist Alisson Borges (Lobo). She tries to be a normal high schooler, but as in most “superheroes go to high school” comics, this doesn’t work out, and intense magical battles ensue.

Unfortunately, Wolfman’s writing and plotting in Raven #1 is a little bit of a jumble, and he seems to be more concerned explaining her power set instead of showing her attempts to fit in at high school beyond the cliched “Everyone hates me.” thing. (She even vomits in a trash can.) There is a seed of an interesting conflict between Raven and her Aunt Alice’s family as they are devout Christians and Raven is basically the daughter of the devil. But this is only explored at surface level with Raven zoning out during pre-dinner grace and some crosses above in their interior decoration. Wolfman does try something interesting stylistically with his writing by making the high school students’ dialogue one-word phrases like “concert” and “blah blah blah” to show that Raven isn’t really interested in what they have to say. But somehow she has “friends” by the end of the first day through magic. Unlike, say, Steve Orlando in Supergirl who is making Kara getting used to Earth life and school a gradual process, Wolfman just decides to magic it away and give her group of friends that she has barely any connection with beyond the fact that she dresses up like a popular metal band’s singer.

Raven#1 fares a little bit better on the art front. Whenever Raven uses her magical abilities, the panels shift and sway as she manipulates the fabric of reality. Borges uses grids to ramp up the intensity as Raven goes from trying to survive high school to preparing for the return of her demon father, Trigion. And this is where colorist Blond comes in with bursts of energy like a light blue when Raven’s rival starts using her powers. He works in a melancholy purple early in the comic when Raven is thinking about the death of Tim Drake, her Teen Titans teammate, but unfortunately, Wolfman and Borges don’t mention or look into their relationship for the rest of the comic. He’s just a convenient reason for her to go solo and try to reconnect with her family.

Alisson Borges does a decent job showing how out of place Raven is in high school as well as the practically migraine inducing strain her magical abilities take on her. Her art style is melodramatic, but fits a book where the main character makes the girls around her think they’re pregnant when she’s having a bad day. (That’s pretty cruel, actually.) Unfortunately, Wolfman completely drops the “misanthropic teenager” ball and just makes Raven an awkward cloak wearer.

Raven #1 has nice dialed up color palette from Blond and couple intense magic sequences from Borges, but Marv Wolfman doesn’t really break new ground in the superhero in high school department. He uses Raven’s empathetic abilities to cause her pain and tension, but doesn’t connect it to her real emotions just some random magic using student. So, there is a lot of screaming and magic, but no real emotional connection in the comic, which makes it fairly mediocre.

The epic conclusion of the “Cybernetic Registration” epic is here! The Cyforce’s true masterminds are finally revealed! How will Cyborg ever regain the trust of our citizens, the government or the JLA again?

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The Hero Initiative, the charity that supports comic creators in medical and financial need, will hit the Baltimore Comic-ConSeptember 25-27, 2015 at the Baltimore Convention Center, with fan favorite creators — VIP and General Admission tickets are now on sale! Come ready with your books, as the Hero Initiative booth will be a popular stop on the Baltimore Convention Center floor. This year, Hero Initiative is pleased to bring to Baltimore classic creators Bob Budiansky, Mike Grell, and Marv Wolfman.

Bob Budiansky spent years working for Marvel Comics as a writer, penciller, and editor. He is the writer responsible for the entire run of Marvel’s Sleepwalker in the 1990s. He is also renowned for his contributions to the Transformers comics, where he created much of the original comics content, created some of the more popular characters in their continuity, and provided the “tech specs” that were packaged along with the Hasbro toys in the ’80s. As an artist, Budiansky’s pencils graced the pages and covers of titles like Ghost Rider, Captain America, and Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Budiansky spent 13 years working as an editor at Marvel Comics on titles like Captain America, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, and The Thing, plus Spider-Man titles including those during the famed Clone Saga story line.

Mike Grell began his storied career in comics working in comic strips, as an assistant on Brenda Starr. After moving to New York City in the 1970s, Grell took over art duties on DC Comics’ Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. He later flexed his skills as a writer, creating The Warlord at DC. He launched Batman Family and worked on Green Lantern/Green Arrow as well. In the early 1980s, Grell returned to his comic strip roots, taking over writing and drawing roles on the syndicated Tarzan. Later, he went on to develop his creator-owned properties, Jon Sable Freelance at First Comics and Starslayer at Pacific Comics. In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Grell took over writing and illustration duties on Green Arrow after his much-lauded take on the character in the Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters limited series. As he entered the 2000s, he worked on Marvel Comics’ Iron Man and X-Men Forever, and returned to The Warlord at DC Comics. Recently, Grell serialized a Tarzan story for Dark Horse Presents, and contributed to DC’s Arrow, from the TV adaptation of the comic.

Marv Wolfman got his start on the fandom side of comics, writing for and editing fanzines in the 1960s. His professional career began at DC Comics, where he wrote a story for Blackhawk and would go on to contribute to titles like Teen Titans, Showcase, and Weird Mystery Tales. Moving to Marvel Comics, he eventually ascended to the role of Editor-in-Chief, before stepping aside so he could concentrate on his writing. There, he had an extensive run on Tomb of Dracula, where he created Blade, the character that proved the viability of Marvel properties on the big screen. He was also the mind behind such Marvel characters as Nova, Terrax, Bullseye, and Black Cat. He also wrote the syndicated Howard the Duck comic strip. He later returned to DC to relaunch the acclaimed New Teen Titans. and worked on titles including Action Comics, Dial H for Hero, Green Lantern, and Night Force before the game-changing Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series. In the 1990s, Wolfman was an editor at and wrote for Disney Comics. In the 2000s, Wolfman returned to DC Comics, writing Nightwing, DC Special: Raven, and, more recently, Convergence: Adventures of Superman and Convergence: New Teen Titans.

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…or the Spiders from Titans Tower. You’ve seen Grayson’s jumpsuit, right? He’s just missing a guitar.

Our latest Graphic Policy Radio podcast guest (and award winning non-comics reporter) Spencer Ackerman and I are both fans of the classic New Teen Titans series by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. Upon reading the first issue of this two part book he pointed out to me that in Convergence: New Teen Titans, Cyborg and Beast Boy can EASILY be read as a couple. “In the first scene Donna Troy is writing to Terry [her husband] about how now that they’re trapped under the Dome, all the Titans except her are — her words — “paired up”? Those pairs are shown to be: Kole and Jericho; Nightwing and Starfire; and Cyborg and Beast Boy. Never once does Wolfman explicitly write Gar and Vic as lovers. But that seems to me to be the clearest acknowledgement yet that they’re a couple.”

Of issue 2 Spencer wrote “Beast Boy is on the cover in non-animal form, lifting up Cyborg, who easily weighs 300 lbs. It’s obviously the power of their love that puts the strength in Gar’s arms, back and legs. There’s also a scene where Gar is shedding literally a single tear talking about how he can’t lose Vic, who’s “more than a friend.” They chicken out and have Gar add “he’s my brother,” but I don’t think I’m straining to see the queer subtext. It’s 2015, DiDio! We know Gar and Vic are lovers! We embrace it! Stop insulting us!”

I wonder if keeping queer relationships in subtext as opposed to just saying the darn words is a force of habit for Bronze Age writers. Ultimately though, I put the question to the fans: how does this relationship read to you? In this case I put this particular question to queer guys who grew up during the time of the original series. I argue that their relationship is real to the extent that you guys identify with it. “Authorial intent for serialized stories is nonsense. Shatterstar isn’t straight because Rob Liefeld tweets that he is…” quoth Spencer.

Marv Wolfman’s New Teen Titans are gloriously soapy and always have been. They’re the DC Comics version of Claremont’s New Mutants and having them back again is quite a gift. Especially with Dick Grayson’s historical retro-before-its-time Glam Rock Super Hero Jump Suit and Kole’s Studio 54-worthy lurex shimmery accordion pleats (I’d wear it). Joey’s mutton-chop sideburns are flawless.

Issue 1 of this mini series was a wonder. Nicola Scott is the perfect artist for this book — she draws elegant, expressive faces with realistic and compelling facial expressions. Unlike in most comics, no two characters’ faces are alike! Other artists, please take note. The colors by Jeromy Cox are almost flat enough for this to feel like a real bronze age book.

I feel bad poking holes in the generous gift that is the Rise and Fall of Dick Nightwing & the Spiders from Tamaran but after a promising issue 1 I had to re-read issue 2 in disbelief a few times and was left shaking my head in confusion over the plot, parts of the dialog and the total lack of a conclusion.

The scenes between Kole and Joey in issue 2 are either confusing or disturbing. In issue 1 she asks Donna if Joey might be gay, Donna gives her classic big sister style advice in the most adorable way before single-tearing over her absent husband (I love you Donna, never change). But then in issue 2 Kole kisses Joey while he’s semi-conscious and Joey immediately pushes her away. Joey makes his lack of consent very clear. Then the next time they are together she turns his oil painting into a mixed media piece and they hug. What is going on?!? Kole acts as if some personal conversation had occurred in between her molesting Joey and messing with his painting and hugging him. Maybe I’m just bad at reading his body language but I have no idea what he communicated with her in that painting scene. Did she ask for forgiveness for touching him non-consensually? Did he come out to her? Did he signal “no I don’t date people who kiss me when I’m unconscious but let’s hug and pretend things are normal?” Because either way, it must have been off panel. I ask both a rhetorical question and as a regular question: what the hell is going on?!

Oh, the things we’ll do to read a comic with glam rock costume Dick Grayson. He’ll beat the bad guys and then play a smoking hot solo. The comic comes to an abrupt end, even with the sound of a record skip. It’s end is bizarre and un-fulfilling even for a wacky cross-over event. I just don’t buy what passes for a relationship resolution between Kory and Dick in issue 2. Dick doesn’t trust her and he is patronizing. I suspect they’ll be making like David and Angie Bowie and splitting off camera. Maybe he’ll move to Berlin and hang out with Brian Eno and other feathered jumpsuit enthusiasts.

Spencer tapped his superior knowledge of the original series to construct the following supporting argument for a Garth and Victor relationship that precedes this continuity: “When Cyborg first gets seriously injured, Gar is shown keeping a bedside vigil and crying. Gar is constantly and loudly proclaiming his sexual desire for women in a really closet-y way, but when (during Geoff Johns’ run) Raven decides she’s into Gar, Gar finds all manner of awkward excuses to keep her away. Meanwhile, all of Vic’s attempts at relationships with women fail, often the result of him loathing himself — seemingly because he hates his quadriplegia… but, y’know, maybe he hasn’t come to terms with another aspect of himself as well. The only times either Cyborg and Beast Boy* are shown to be happy are when they’re with one another.”

Teenage Superheroes in Love. Unless you’re Kole. What the fuck Kole, what the fuck.

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On the left, Black Nova, the character created and published independently by Marv Wolfman in 1967. In the middle, The Man Called Nova, the character published by Marvel Comics in 1976, as written by its then-employee Marv Wolfman. The decision in In re: Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc, 254 B.R. 817, 820–22 (D.C. De. 2000) whether or not they are the same character. On the right, a Nova character as depicted in the recent Marvel Studios blockbuster film “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

There is an assumption among comic book fans that Marvel will continue to use the Nova characters in future movies, perhaps even as a title character. But will Marv Wolfman, the creator of Nova, get his due?

NEW YORK and AUSTIN, Texas, October 17, 2011 – A total of 10 Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards winners and nominees and seven artists from the DC relaunch “DCnU” are among the more than 210 comic creators scheduled to attend Wizard World Austin Comic Con, part of North America’s largest pop-culture tour, Nov. 11-13 at the Austin Convention Center. Eisner Hall of Famer Marv Wolfman (“DCU Online,” “Crisis on Infinite Earths”) joins winners Bill Sienkiewicz (“Elektra,” “Assassin”), Kevin Maguire (“Justice League,” “Batman Confidential and Rob Guillory (“Chew”).

The creators will be on hand to meet fans, sign autographs and sketch. Many Greater Austin-based artists will be in attendance as well.

The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards are considered the “Oscars” of the comic book industry. Established in 1987, they are named for renowned cartoonist Will Eisner (creator of “The Spirit” and several award-winning graphic novels).

Austin Comic Con is the ninth and final stop on Wizard World’s 2011 North American tour. Hours are Friday, November 11, 4 – 7 p.m.; Saturday, November 12, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.; and Sunday, November 13, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tickets are available in advance online at http://www.wizardworldcomiccon.com/austin.html at a savings over tickets purchased at the door. Advance adult single-day tickets are priced at $25 ($35 on site); weekend all-session tickets are $45 ($55 on site), and tickets are free for children age 10 and under when accompanied by a paid adult (limit two children per adult). VIP packages with special entry and exclusive items are also available on a limited basis.

About Wizard World:
Wizard World produces Comic Cons and pop culture conventions across North America that celebrate graphic novels, comic books, movies, TV shows, gaming, technology, toys and social networking. The events often feature celebrities from movies and TV, artists and writers, and events such as premieres, gaming tournaments, panels, and costume contests. Wizard World also produces Wizard World Digital, an online publication covering new and upcoming products and talents in the pop culture world, and is distributed on a weekly basis to online and iPad users worldwide.

Graphic Policy believes in journalistic integrity and transparency. We will disclose when a product has been given for free for review and/or when no cost has been incurred to the staff so that you may be able to make a fully informed decision as to the opinions provided.

When a product has been provided for free you will see disclosure at the bottom of the article. When such a disclosure does not exist, you can assume that the items have been purchased for review.